Criminal court statistics quarterly, England and Wales

January to March 2016

Ministry of Justice Statistics bulletin

Published 30 June 2016

## Contents

| Section | Page | |------------------------------------------------------------------------|------| | Contents | 1 | | Introduction | 2 | | Changes and revisions in this publication | 4 | | Key Findings | 6 | | Criminal Courts | 7 | | 1. Criminal cases in the magistrates' courts | 7 | | 2. Criminal cases in the Crown Court | 9 | | 3. Timeliness | 16 | | Annex A: Enforcement of financial impositions | 19 | | Annex B: Legal representation in the Crown Court (experimental statistics) | 22 | | Annex C: Juror Statistics | 22 | | Annex D: Election of the defendant (experimental statistics) | 23 | | Annex E: List of Accompanying Tables and CSV | 24 | | Annex F: Explanatory notes | 27 | | Previous editions | 28 | | Contacts | 28 | Introduction

The statistical bulletin

This publication presents statistics relating to activity in criminal cases in magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales. It provides provisional figures for the latest quarter (January to March 2016), and annual figures for 2015 with accompanying commentary and analysis. The figures themselves give a summary overview of the volume of cases dealt with by these courts over time. The statistics are used to monitor court workloads, to assist in the development of policy, and their subsequent monitoring and evaluation.

Information on the enforcement of financial impositions can be found in Annex A. Figures on the criminal courts charge, which was introduced on 13 April 2015 and ceased on 24 December 2015, are separately identified within the publication. The annex provides updated management information on the collection of financial impositions through Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).

Annex B presents experimental statistics on legal representation of defendants at the Crown Court. Management information on juror summons and the juror utilisation rate for 2015 can be found in Annex C. Experimental statistics splitting defendants dealt with in Crown Court trials by election type (direction of magistrates or by election by defendant) are available for the first time in Annex D.

Criminal Courts; an overview

Magistrates’ courts

Virtually all criminal court cases start in the magistrates’ courts. The less serious offences are handled entirely in magistrates’ courts, with over 90% of all cases being dealt with in this way. The more serious offences are passed on to the Crown Court, either for sentencing after the defendant has been found guilty in the magistrates’ court, or for trial with a judge and jury.

As part of wider measures in the justice system, committal hearings were abolished nationally¹ at the end of May 2013. As a result of the change, triable-either-way cases can now be sent straight to the Crown Court as soon as it is clear the matter is serious enough, rather than having to await a committal hearing.

¹ www.gov.uk/government/news/faster-justice-as-unneccessary-committal-hearings-are-abolished The Crown Court

The Crown Court deals with cases received from the magistrates’ courts for sentencing, trial or appeal against magistrates’ courts’ decision.

Of those proceeded against in the magistrates’ courts, 6% of defendants go on to the Crown Court for trial.

Triable-either-way cases can be sent to the Crown Court for trial if the magistrates’ courts decide the matter is serious enough or if a defendant elects to be tried by judge and jury.

Indictable only cases can only be tried on indictment in the Crown Court as they cannot be heard summarily at the magistrates’ courts.

Committed for sentence cases are transferred to the Crown Court for sentencing only after a defendant has been convicted in a magistrates’ court. This would occur where a magistrate believes that their sentencing powers are insufficient to apply an appropriate sanction to the defendant.

In its appellate jurisdiction the Crown Court deals mainly with appeals against conviction and/or sentence in respect of criminal offences, including consequential orders, e.g. disqualification from driving, and against the making of certain standalone orders, e.g. Anti-Social Behaviour Orders. The Crown Court may dismiss or allow the appeal and vary all or any part of the sentence. Appeals are usually heard by a Circuit Judge sitting with no more than four lay magistrates (normally two).

Average waiting time at the Crown Court

‘Average waiting time’ is the time between sending a case to the Crown Court and the start of the substantive hearing.

Average hearing time at the Crown Court

The ‘average hearing time’ relates to the average duration of all hearings heard in the Crown Court, including preliminary hearings, main hearings, and hearings where a sentence is given to a defendant.

Data and court processes

Information about the systems and data included in this publication can be found in the ‘A guide to criminal court statistics’ which is published alongside this report. It also includes a glossary which provides brief definitions for the terms used in this report.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-guide-to-criminal-court-statistics Changes and revisions in this publication

Revisions to Crown Court and representation tables

Methodological improvements have been made to the collation process for these statistics, such as removing a small number of duplicate records. There have therefore been minor revisions to 2014 figures in the annual Crown Court tables AC2, AC6-AC8 and legal representation tables B1-B3, and to 2010 and 2011 figures in all Crown Court tables.

Release of annual criminal court statistics quarterly tables

Annual tables for magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court, including tabulated breakdowns by region, have been published as typical for each year. Figures for 2015 have been revised accordingly across tables. See Annex E for a full list of tables released.

Annual tables on legal representation in the Crown Court (Tables B1-B3) and juror statistics (Tables J1-J2) are also included, with commentary included in Annex B and Annex C for each respective area.

First release of Crown Court receipts, disposals and outstanding tables by offence group (experimental statistics)

The Crown Court table C1 is now available split by twelve offence groups (also used within the timeliness table T6). These cases have been categorised according to the latest Home Office offence classification. Separate tables C1a, C1b and C1c have been produced for receipts, disposals and outstanding cases, respectively, with commentary included in the ‘Criminal cases in the Crown Court’ section of this bulletin. The statistics are badged as "experimental statistics" and do not display the National Statistics logo, as data are still being evaluated and remain subject to further testing in terms of their reliability and ability to meet customer needs.

First release of statistics on Crown Court trials by election type (experimental statistics)

As part of the annual tables, the publication includes for the first time the number of defendants dealt with in triable-either-way trial cases at the Crown Court split by those who were sent on the direction of a magistrate and those where the defendant elected to be sent to the Crown Court. The statistics are badged as "experimental statistics" and do not display the National Statistics logo, as data are still being evaluated and remain subject to further testing in terms of their reliability and ability to meet customer needs. The statistics can be found in Table D1, and commentary included in Annex D. Transparency and timeliness files

Due to some LCJB, LJA and court names changing over time, some local areas have been adjusted to reflect the most recent name change. This enables consistency over quarters and easier comparison between LCJB, LJA or court across time.

Future changes to timeliness methodology

Following a consultation in early 2015, a proposal was agreed to make changes to the timeliness methodology within this publication, for example removing the ten year threshold from the validation scripts applied to published estimates. We previously announced our intention to implement the changes for the start of 2016/17 reporting period. As such, the changes are planned to be implemented in the next publication in this series, scheduled for release on 29 September 2016 covering the period April to June 2016. Key Findings

This report presents statistics relating to activity in criminal cases in the magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales in the first quarter of 2016 (January to March).

- The decrease in receipts and increase in disposals in magistrates’ courts in the latest quarter resulted in the outstanding magistrates’ court caseload dropping to 304,300 at the end of Q1 2016, the lowest figure since Q1 2014.

- Outstanding cases in the Crown Court have been gradually decreasing since Q4 2014. Between Q4 2014 and Q1 2016 they declined by 16% to 46,500 cases. This decline reflects the number of disposals being greater than the number of receipts for the last 5 quarters.

- The average time from receipt by the Crown Court to main hearing and main hearing to completion increased between Q3 2013 and Q2 2015, driving the overall increase in the number of days from first listing to completion across this period. More recently, there has been a decrease in the average number of days from receipt by the Crown Court to completion – from 199 days in Q2 2015 to 177 days in Q1 2016.

- From Q1 2011, average hearing times for not guilty plea trials slowly increased to 14.9 hours in Q4 2013. Since then, hearing times have fluctuated between 12.5 and 15 hours with a peak of 15.4 hours in Q1 2016. Criminal Courts

At the first quarter of 2016, there were around 240 magistrates’ courts and approximately 80 Crown Court locations across England and Wales.

1. Criminal cases in the magistrates’ courts

Figure 1 below shows the magistrates’ courts caseload for England and Wales.

**Figure 1: Magistrates’ courts caseload, Q2 2012 to Q1 2016**

Receipts in the magistrates’ courts (figure 1)

Receipts throughout 2012 and going into Q1 2013 were stable, but fell by 4% at Q2 2013. This was followed with a 7% rise between Q2 2013 and Q1 2014, after which they remained stable at around 400,000 a quarter until Q1 2015. More recently, the number of receipts fluctuated throughout 2015, with a decline of 4% between Q4 2015 and Q1 2016.

Disposals (figure 1)

Following a dip in disposals across 2013 to 378,200 in Q4 2013, disposals have fluctuated but gradually increased since then, with an overall rise by 9% between Q4 2013 and Q1 2016. There were 412,400 disposals in Q1 2016, a quarterly peak since 2012. Outstanding cases (figure 1)

The number of outstanding cases fell between 2012 and Q3 2013 – over a period when quarterly disposals were greater than receipts – down to 281,600 cases at the end of Q3 2013. Outstanding caseload then rose to 328,300 at the end of Q1 2015, followed by quarterly fluctuation up to the end of 2015. The decrease in receipts and increase in disposals in the latest quarter resulted in the outstanding caseload dropping to 304,300 at the end of Q1 2016, the lowest figure since Q1 2014.

Annual table: effectiveness of magistrates’ courts trials by region (figure 2)

In comparison to the other regions within England and Wales, London had the largest proportion of effective trials in 2015 (55%). It also had the lowest proportion of cracked trials (30%).

In contrast, the North East had the lowest proportion of effective trials (40%) whilst Wales and the North East had the highest percentage of cracked trials (43%).

The South East had the greatest percentage of ineffective trials (18%) whereas Wales had the lowest (7%).

Figure 2: Effectiveness of magistrates’ courts’ trials in England and Wales by region, 2015 2. Criminal cases in the Crown Court

Figure 3 below shows the annual Crown Court caseload from 2000 to 2015, whilst figure 4 shows the quarterly Crown Court caseload from Q1 2010 to Q1 2016.

Annual trends in the Crown Court from 2000 to 2015 (figure 3)

Figure 3: Crown Court annual caseload, 2000 to 2015

Receipts

Overall, receipts rose by 36% from 2000 to a peak of 152,800 in 2010. The level then decreased by 13% between 2010 and 2012. This was followed by a smaller increase of 5% to 2013. The number of receipts then fell from 2013 to 2015, with the receipt level at 2015 being the lowest since 2006 at 130,000 cases.

Disposals

Following a similar pattern to receipts, there was an overall rise by 32% between 2000 and 2010. Between 2010 and 2012, disposals decreased by 10%. They were fairly stable between 2013 and 2014, but then increased in 2015. Disposals were higher than receipts in 2015 for the first time since 2012.

Outstanding cases

Between 2000 and 2009, there was a 53% rise in outstanding cases. Following a decrease in outstanding cases between 2010 and 2012, cases subsequently rose between 2012 and 2014, but decreased again by 8% from 2014 to 2015. This decline reflects the number of disposals being higher than receipts over this period. Since 2010, there has been an overall increase of 8% in outstanding cases to 2015. Recent quarterly trends (figure 4)

Figure 4: Crown Court caseload, Q1 2010 to Q1 2016

Receipts

Receipts in Q1 2016 were 8% lower than in Q4 2015, and 12% lower than the first quarter of 2015. This figure of 29,800 was the lowest of the quarterly time series (since 2010).

Disposals

Disposals at Q1 2016 were the highest since the first quarter of 2015, and had increased by 2% from Q4 2015.

Outstanding cases

Outstanding cases have been decreasing since Q4 2014. Between Q4 2014 and Q1 2016 they declined by 16% to 46,500 cases. Receipts by case type (figure 5)

Triable-either-way and indictable only (IO) cases drive the overall trend in receipts. Following a decline of 32% in triable-either-way receipts between Q1 2010 and Q1 2013, the level of receipts rose between Q1 to Q3 2013 and then remained relatively stable until Q2 2015. Receipts decreased through 2015 and into Q1 2016.

Since the peak in IO receipts in Q2 2013, there have been an overall downward trend over the subsequent two years, with a 24% decline from Q2 2013 to Q1 2016.

Cases committed for sentence have declined by 30% between the peak in Q3 2011 and Q1 2016, and appeals have declined by 30% since Q1 2010.

Figure 5: Crown Court receipts by case type, Q1 2010 to Q1 2016

Disposals by case type (figure 6)

Between Q1 2010 and Q1 2013, disposals in triable-either-way cases decreased by 28%. They then rose from Q2 2013, resulting in triable-either-way disposals being higher than receipts across 2015 and into Q1 2016.

The overall number of indictable only disposals was been broadly stable between Q1 2013 and Q1 2015, at around 8,300. They have since declined to Q3 2015 and risen again, up to 8,100 in Q1 2016.

Committed for sentence cases and appeals have also declined, by 17% and 18% respectively between Q1 2010 and Q4 2015. Committed for sentence cases show a 2% rise between Q4 2015 and Q1 2016, whereas appeals show an 8% decline in the same period.

**Figure 6: Crown Court disposals by case type, Q1 2010 to Q1 2016**

![Graph showing Crown Court disposals by case type, Q1 2010 to Q1 2016](image)

**Outstanding cases by case type** (figure 7)

The trend in triable-either-way outstanding cases drives the trend in the overall number of outstanding cases. Following a 30% decrease between Q1 2010 and Q1 2013, cases increased substantially, by 76%, between Q1 2013 and Q1 2015. This was followed by a declining trend thereafter, with a 20% decrease between Q1 2015 to Q1 2016, over the period that disposals for triable-either-way cases have been greater than receipts.

Indictable only cases also followed this pattern but to a lesser magnitude, decreasing by 6% between Q1 2010 and Q1 2013 and then increasing by 15% to Q1 2015. There was then a decrease by 12% between Q1 2015 and Q1 2016. Committed for sentence cases and appeals have remained relatively stable across time. Figure 7: Crown Court outstanding cases by type, Q1 2010 to Q1 2016

Receipts, disposals and outstanding cases by offence group (experimental statistics) (figure 8)

Figure 8: Receipts, disposals and outstanding cases by offence group, Q1 2016 In Q1 2016, violence against the person had the highest volume of receipts and disposals, followed by miscellaneous crimes, drug offences and theft.

Outstanding cases followed a different pattern. Violence against the person had the highest amount of cases, followed by sexual offences and miscellaneous offences. There may have been a greater number of sexual offence cases outstanding due to the length of time these cases take to complete in comparison to other offence groups.

**Annual tables: Crown Court caseload by region** (figures 9, 10 & 11)

Several of the annual tables cover regional breakdowns of Crown Court caseload in England and Wales for 2015.

In 2015, London had the highest volume of receipts, disposals and outstanding cases, due to the population of the region. Triable-either-way and indictable trials accounted for the highest proportion of caseload when compared to the other regions (71% receipts, 72% disposals, 87% outstanding).

Wales had the lowest volume of receipts, disposals and outstanding cases, and the lowest proportion of trial outstanding cases of the regions, alongside the South West (82%). The South West had the lowest proportion of trial receipts (63%), and also the lowest proportion of disposals, equal to the North East (66%).

**Figure 9: Proportion of receipts by region, 2015**

![Proportion of receipts by region, 2015](image-url) Figure 10: Proportion of disposals by region, 2015

Figure 11: Proportion of outstanding cases by region, 2015 3. Timeliness

Offence to completion in the magistrates’ courts

For cases in the magistrates’ courts, the (mean) average number of days from offence to completion increased by 7 days between Q1 2013 and Q4 2015, a 5% rise. Despite remaining at 158 days in both Q3 2015 and Q4 2015, the average increased by a further 5 days to 163 days in Q1 2016.

Crown Court criminal cases - First listing in the magistrates’ courts to completion in the Crown Court (figure 12)

For cases completing at the Crown Court, the average number of days from first listing to completion increased from 152 to 204 days between Q3 2013 and Q2 2015, followed by a decrease to 183 days in Q1 2016.

The average time from first listing at the magistrates’ court to receipt by the Crown Court fell from 26 days in Q1 2013 to 6 days in Q3 2015, and remained at 6 days into Q1 2016.

The average time from receipt by the Crown Court to main hearing and main hearing to completion, however, increased between Q3 2013 and Q2 2015, driving the overall increase in the number of days from first listing to completion across the period. More recently, there has been a decrease in the average number of days from receipt by the Crown Court to completion – from 199 days in Q2 2015 to 177 days in Q1 2016.

Figure 12: Average number of days (mean) from first listing in the magistrates’ courts to completion in the Crown Court, for Crown Court criminal cases, Q2 2010 to Q1 2016 Annual table: Breakdown of average number of days from offence to completion for criminal cases by region (figure 13)

In England and Wales at 2015, the South East had the longest mean time spent from offence to completion at 180 days. The North East had the shortest timeliness of 154 days, which was partially influenced by having the shortest ‘offence to charge’ stage of the regions (92 days).

Wales had the greatest amount of time spent at ‘offence to charge’ (102 days), but the shortest time from ‘first listing to completion (17 days).

Figure 13: Proportion of average number of days taken from offence to completion for criminal cases in England and Wales, 2015

Average waiting times at the Crown Court (figure 14)

Average waiting times for all trial cases increased between 2013 and 2015. Waiting times for triable-either-way cases increased by 6 weeks and indictable only cases by 4.1 weeks between Q4 2013 and Q4 2015. For non-trial cases waiting times have remained fairly steady over the same period with an overall increase of 0.2 weeks for committed for sentence cases and 1.1 weeks for appeals.

In Q1 2016 the waiting times for trial cases fell by 0.7 weeks in triable-either-way cases and 1.4 weeks in indictable only cases, from Q4 2015. The waiting times in non-trial cases increased by 0.2 weeks for cases committed for sentence and 0.4 weeks for appeal cases. Average hearing times at the Crown Court (figure 15)

From Q1 2011, average hearing times for not guilty plea trials slowly increased to 14.9 hours in Q4 2013. Since then, hearing times have fluctuated between 12.5 and 15 hours with a peak of 15.4 hours in Q1 2016.

Hearing times for guilty plea trials have remained fairly steady at 1.5 hours into Q1 2016. Annex A: Enforcement of financial impositions

The following section provides updated management information on the collection of financial impositions through Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). Figures on criminal courts charge are shown separately in this bulletin but following the announcement by the Secretary of State for Justice on 3 December this charge ceased to exist on 24 December 2015. Impositions made in this time period are reported, and payment information will continue to be recorded.

Financial impositions are ordered by the criminal courts for payment by offenders at sentencing and include financial penalties such as fines, prosecutors’ costs, compensation orders and victim surcharge. Financial penalties are the most commonly used sentence and form a significant part of HMCTS’ collection and enforcement business. Accounting centres also enforce penalty notices for disorder and fixed penalty notices registered as fines for enforcement. The financial imposition statistics presented here do not include confiscation orders. Figure 16 shows the financial impositions for each quarter split by imposition type.

Figure 16: HMCTS management information: Financial impositions by imposition type, England and Wales, Q2 2011 – Q1 2016

Notes: Criminal Court Charge ceased to exist on 24 December 2015 but impositions still appear due to when the data are entered onto the system. Financial impositions and amounts paid (Table A1)

Financial penalties can be imposed by the magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court; although they are all collected and enforced by the HMCTS National Compliance and Enforcement Service.

Trends in the amount paid have risen between 2004 and 2015 by 60% to £360 million at 2015. Between 2014 and 2015 the amount paid rose by 20%. This is partly due to a large value of criminal court charge payments following the implementation of the imposition in Q2 2015.

The total value of financial penalties paid in Q1 2016, regardless of the age of the imposition, was £109 million; a 27% increase when compared with the same quarter in 2015 and a 14% increase since Q4 2015.

Financial impositions and amounts paid by imposition type (Table A2, figure 16)

The total amount of impositions imposed increased between 2012 and 2015 by 42% to £573 million. Alongside the implementation of the criminal courts charge in Q2 2015, which inflated the 2015 figure, impositions for the remaining charges have also shown an overall increase since 2012.

The total value of impositions in Q1 2016 (£153 million) decreased by 13% when compared to Q4 2015. This is mainly due to the ceasing in December 2015 of the criminal courts charge that was introduced in April 2015. In Q1 2016, 13% (£20 million) of all financial impositions imposed by the criminal courts were paid within the imposition month.

Financial impositions (£ million) for victim surcharge (Table A2, figure 17)

Victim surcharge is an additional surcharge which is added to the fines that are imposed. The receipts obtained from the collection of these monies by HMCTS are passed to the Justice Policy Group of the MoJ to fund victims’ services. The amount imposed has been increasing since its scope and amounts payable were extended in October 2012.

Although increases have slowed and stabilised at this higher level in 2015, impositions are 4% higher at Q1 2016 than at Q4 2015. While the amount imposed has remained high, the proportion of impositions collected within the imposition month has decreased from 12% in Q1 2015 to 11% in Q1 2016. Figure 17: Financial impositions (£ million) for victim surcharge, Q2 2011 to Q1 2016

Financial imposition accounts opened and closed (Table A3)

An account is opened when a financial penalty is ordered in court and is closed when the imposition against the account has been paid or the imposition ceases. Where a defendant has more than one financial penalty and/or account, these can be consolidated into one account.

The number of accounts has risen since 2013. There were 1,285,000 accounts opened in 2015, 3% more than in 2014.

There were 326,000 accounts opened in Q1 2016, an increase of 4% since Q4 2014, but a decrease of 1% when compared to the same period in the previous year. Of the accounts opened in Q1 2016, 10% (32,600) were closed within the imposition month.

Outstanding financial impositions (Table A4)

The amount outstanding is irrespective of the age of the imposition or the payment terms, and excludes all impositions already paid as well as both legal and administrative cancellations. Payment terms may include arrangements for offenders to pay amounts owed over a period of time.

In Q1 2016, the total value of financial impositions outstanding in England and Wales was £680 million. Although they had been decreasing from April 2011, the amount of outstanding financial impositions has been increasing since Q1 2014, and show an increase of 19% between Q1 2015 and Q1 2016. The increase in outstanding impositions from 2015 is partially due to owed criminal court charge payments. Annex B: Legal representation in the Crown Court (experimental statistics)

Representation by year

The proportion of defendants dealt with in the Crown Court who are known to have had legal representation(^2) has decreased by 2 percentage points between 2010 and 2015. During 2015, 93% (89,400) of defendants were represented by an advocate at the first hearing whilst 7% (7,000) of defendants had no advocate or unknown representation at first hearing. This compares to 95% and 5% respectively in 2010.

The proportion of defendants represented at first hearing by an advocate only, with no solicitor representation, has increased since 2010. Of those in 2015, 18% (16,500) did not have a solicitor, compared to 2% (2,300) in 2010.

Representation and hearings

In 2015, 27% of represented defendants had two or less hearings, compared with 17% of defendants whose representation was unknown or were known to be unrepresented. Conversely, 20% of represented defendants had six or more hearings, compared with 25% who had no or unknown representation.

Annex C: Juror Statistics

There were 361,300 juror summons issued in 2015, a 2% increase compared to the number of juror summons issued in 2014. In the same year around 27% of all juror summons were excused, an increase of 1 percentage point when compared with the previous year. In 2015 there were 179,200 jurors supplied to the court.

The juror utilisation rate is the number of sitting days divided by the sum of sitting, non-sitting and non-attendance days. Since 2006 the juror utilisation rate has, overall, risen by 12 percentage points to the current rate of 71% in 2015, although it has been around this level since 2011. The increase may be the result of the introduction of a programme on the part of HMCTS to avoid placing more of a burden on jurors than necessary and make the best use of their time.

(^2) Representation is classed as defendants who were known to be represented by an advocate or solicitor at first hearing. Annex D: Election of the defendant (experimental statistics)

Triable-either-way cases can be sent to the Crown Court for trial if the magistrates’ courts decide the matter is serious enough, or if a defendant elects to be tried by judge and jury.

In Q1 2016, there were 15,200 defendants dealt with in either-way trial cases in the Crown Court. Of these, 14,200 defendants were sent on the direction of magistrates and 960 defendants had elected to be sent to the Crown Court (there were a small number of cases where information on election type is missing).

Excluding those defendants where election type was unknown, direction by magistrates resulted in 94% of defendants dealt with, with 6% of defendants having elected to be sent for trial. The proportion of defendants sent on the direction of magistrates has increased by 2 percentage points between Q1 2014 and Q1 2016 (from 92% to 94%), with a corresponding decrease of 2 percentage points in defendants electing for trial (from 8% to 6%).

Of the 14,200 defendants sent on the direction of magistrates in Q1 2016, 9,900 (69%) pleaded guilty and 3,700 (26%) pleaded not guilty. Of the 960 defendants who elected to be sent for trial, 420 pleaded guilty (44%) and 470 (49%) pleaded not guilty.

¹ Note not all defendants have a plea recorded – for example, if a case is discontinued. Annex E: List of Accompanying Tables and CSV

Accompanying this publication are the following tables:

Table M1 Receipts, disposals and outstanding criminal cases in the magistrates' courts in England and Wales, annually 2012 - 2015, quarterly Q2 2012 – Q1 2016

Table M2 Effectiveness of magistrates' courts' trials in England and Wales, annually 2003 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table M3 Key reasons for ineffective magistrates' courts' trials in England and Wales, annually 2006 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table M4 Key reasons for cracked magistrates' courts' trials in England and Wales, annually 2010 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table AM1 Annual table: Effectiveness of magistrates' courts' trials in England and Wales by region, 2015

Table C1 Receipts, disposals and outstanding cases in the Crown Court in England and Wales, annually 2000 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table C1a Receipts by offence group in the Crown Court in England and Wales, annual 2014 – 2015, quarterly Q1 2014 – Q1 2016

Table C1b Disposals by offence group in the Crown Court in England and Wales, annual 2014 – 2015, quarterly Q1 2014 – Q1 2016

Table C1c Outstanding cases by offence group in the Crown Court in England and Wales, annual 2014 – 2015, quarterly Q1 2014 – Q1 2016

Table C2 Effectiveness of Crown Court trials in England and Wales, annually 2007 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table C3 Key reasons for ineffective Crown Court trials in England and Wales, annually 2007 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table C4 Key reasons for cracked Crown Court trials in England and Wales, annually 2007 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table C5 Defendants dealt with in trial cases in the Crown Court by plea in England and Wales, annually 2001 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table C6 Defendants dealt with in trial cases by stage at which guilty plea was entered and accepted in the Crown Court, by receipt type, England and Wales, annually 2010 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table C7 Defendants dealt with in trial cases where a guilty plea was entered before a trial, during trial or at a cracked trial, and accepted in the Crown Court, by receipt type, England and Wales, annually 2010 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016 Table C8 Average waiting times in the Crown Court in England and Wales, annually 2000 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table C9 Average waiting times (weeks) in the Crown Court for defendants dealt with in trial cases, by plea and remand type, England and Wales, annually 2007 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table C10 Average hearing and waiting times for trial cases in the Crown Court by plea in England and Wales, annually 2000 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table C11 Average hearing times (hours) in the Crown Court for cases disposed of, by case type and plea, England and Wales, annually 2007 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table C12 Appeals (against decisions of magistrates' courts) dealt with in the Crown Court, by appeal type and result, England and Wales, annually 2007 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table AC1 Annual table: Receipts, disposals and outstanding cases in the Crown Court by region, 2015

Table AC2 Annual table: Cases disposed of in the Crown Court by case type and number of defendants involved, 2007- 2015

Table AC3 Annual table: Cases dealt with in the Crown Court by type of judge and region, 2015

Table AC4 Annual table: Cases disposed of and proportion heard by High Court judges in the Crown Court, by class and region, 2015

Table AC5 Annual table: Effectiveness of Crown Court trials by region, 2015

Table AC6 Annual table: Defendants dealt with in trial cases in the Crown Court showing result according to plea, 2007- 2015

Table AC7 Annual table: Defendants acquitted in trial cases in the Crown Court after a not guilty plea, by manner of acquittal, 2007-2015

Table AC8 Annual table: Defendants convicted after a not guilty plea in trial cases in the Crown Court, by number of jurors dissenting to the verdict, 2007-2015

Table AC9 Annual table: Summary statistics on hearing times, waiting times, plea rates and juror utilisation in the Crown Court, by region, 2007-2015

Table T1 Average number of days from offence to completion, percentage of proceedings completed at first listing and average number of hearings for criminal cases at the magistrates' courts by initial plea, England and Wales, annually 2010 - 2015, quarterly Q2 2010 – Q1 2016

Table T2 Average number of days taken from offence to completion for all criminal cases at the magistrates' courts in England and Wales, annually 2010 - 2015, quarterly Q2 2010 – Q1 2016 Table T3 Average number of days taken from offence to completion for all summary cases at the magistrates’ courts in England and Wales, annually 2010 - 2015, quarterly Q2 2010 – Q1 2016

Table T4 Average number of days taken from offence to completion for Crown Court criminal cases in England and Wales, annually 2010 - 2015, quarterly Q2 2010 – Q1 2016

Table T5 Average number of days taken from offence to completion for criminal cases in England and Wales, annually 2010 - 2015, quarterly Q2 2010 – Q1 2016

Table T6 Average number of days taken from offence to completion for all criminal cases by offence group, in England and Wales, Q1 2015 and Q1 2016

Table AT1 Annual table: Average number of days taken from offence to completion for criminal cases by region, 2015

Table A1 Enforcement of financial penalties in the magistrates’ courts, England and Wales, annually 2004 - 2015, quarterly Q1 2010 – Q1 2016

Table A2 HMCTS management information: Financial impositions and amounts paid by imposition type, England and Wales, annual 2011 - 2015, quarterly Q2 2011 – Q1 2016

Table A3 HMCTS management information: Number of financial imposition accounts opened and closed, annually 2011 - 2015, quarterly Q2 2011 – Q1 2016

Table A4 HMCTS management information: Total amount of financial impositions outstanding, annually 2011 - 2015, quarterly Q2 2011 – Q1 2016

Table B1 Advocate and solicitor representation, at first hearing, of defendants dealt with in the Crown Court, England and Wales, annually 2010 – 2015

Table B2 Representation status, at first hearing, of defendants dealt with in the Crown Court, England and Wales, annually 2010 – 2015

Table B3 Number of hearings in the Crown Court, by representation status at first hearing, England and Wales, annually 2010 – 2015

Table J1 Summary jury summoning figures in the Crown Court, 2007 - 2015

Table J2 Juror sitting days and juror utilisation in the Crown Court, England and Wales, 2006 – 2015

Table D1 Number of defendants dealt with in either-way-trial cases in the Crown Court by plea and election type, England and Wales, Q1 2010 to Q1 2016

There are also a number of csv files that support this publication, these include:

- National and court level workload activity and case progression data
- National and court level timeliness data Annex F: Explanatory notes

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

- meet identified user needs;
- are well explained and readily accessible;
- are produced according to sound methods, and
- are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics, it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

The statistics in this bulletin relate to cases in the magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales. Calendar year statistics are also provided.

Breakdowns of many of the summary figures presented in this bulletin, such as split by court or by HMCTS area, are available in the Comma Separated Value (CSV) files that accompany this publication.

Revisions

The statistics in the latest quarter are provisional, and are therefore liable to revision to take account of any late amendments to the administrative databases from which these statistics are sourced. The standard process for revising the published statistics to account for these late amendments is as follows:

- An initial revision to the statistics for the latest quarter may be made when the next edition of this bulletin is published. Further revisions may be made when the figures are reconciled at the end of the year. If revisions are needed in the subsequent year this will be clearly annotated in the tables.

For more information please see the Guide to criminal court statistics.

Symbols and conventions

The following symbols have been used throughout the tables in this bulletin:

- .. = Not applicable
- - = Not available 0 = Nil (r) = Revised data (p) = Provisional data Previous editions

Previous editions of Court Statistics Quarterly can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/court-statistics-quarterly#court-statistics-quarterly-reports

Future publication

The next publication of Criminal court statistics quarterly is scheduled to be published on 29 September 2016, covering the period April to June 2016.

Contacts

Press enquiries on the contents of this bulletin should be directed to the Ministry of Justice or Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) press offices:

Ministry of Justice News Desk Tel: 020 3334 3536 Email: newsdesk@justice.gsi.gov.uk

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the Justice Statistics Analytical Services division of the Ministry of Justice:

David Jagger Ministry of Justice 102 Petty France London SW1H 9AJ Email: statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk

General enquiries about the statistics work of the Ministry of Justice can be emailed to statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk

General information about the official statistics system of the UK is available from www.statistics.gov.uk

Feedback

The structure and content of this report is continually being reviewed to reflect user requirements. If you have any feedback about these changes, or the report more generally, please contact the production team through the Justice Statistics Analytical Services division of the Ministry of Justice:

Email: statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk

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Alternative formats are available on request from statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk